Stamford, CT – Bob Dorf, Adjunct Professor of Entrepreneurship at Columbia Business School, Stamford resident and co-author of The Startup Owner’s Manual, will deliver a special pre-event presentation to kick off Startup Weekend Stamford at the Stamford Innovation Center April 26-28. Kathleen Warner, a Wilton, CT, resident who is chief operating officer of the Startup America Partnership, will deliver the welcome address.

“Bob travels the world helping startups and startup communities with the insights he has gained as a startup founder and investor,” said Peter Propp, vice president of marketing at the Stamford Innovation Center and one of the organizers of Startup Weekend Stamford. “Participants at this talk will learn details about the Customer Development methodology that will help them during Startup Weekend and in any business situation.

“We are also very fortunate to have Kathleen Warner join us to share her thoughts on what the startup movement means to the U.S. and for local economies,” he added. “Kathleen has visited dozens of startup communities and works on entrepreneurship issues with many national leaders. We look forward to hearing her perspective.”

Startup Weekend Stamford enables anyone interested in the world of startups to step into the shoes of an entrepreneur. During this intensive 54-hour, hands-on experience, developers, designers, marketers, product managers and startup enthusiasts come together to share ideas, form teams, build products and launch startups.

Following Mr. Dorf’s pre-event presentation and Ms. Warner’s official kick-off, attendees are encouraged to present a startup idea – but they have to keep their “pitch” to only one minute. Teams then organically form around the top ideas and continue working on business strategy, market validation, coding, designing and creating minimal viable products on Saturday and Sunday. Local business leaders serve as mentors on Saturday and Sunday, offering one-on-one advice to each team.

Tickets for the event are only $99 (students pay just $49 with ID) and cover seven meals, snacks, access to exclusive resources and all the coffee participants can drink. They are now on sale in the following categories:
Developer — software engineers/coders/developers — in short, anybody who can and will write code
Designer — anyone with a background in design, such as graphics, UX/UI, etc.
Non-Technical — business, marketing and public relations, etc. — anybody with a non-technical background

Stamford’s Ferguson Library is a sponsor of Startup Weekend this year and will provide research librarian assistance for any teams looking to validate their assumptions with published sources. The Library is also the host of “Demo Day,” where teams will make their final presentations to a group of judges, who will select the top three teams. Demo Day festivities begin Sunday April 28 at 4:00 pm with a reception for all participants, judges, mentors and guests.

Tickets for Demo day are $20 and can be purchased at www.stamford.startupweekend.org.

3rd Place
– 1 month of free coworking at Stamford Innovation Center for all team members – See more at: http://www.norwalkplus.com/nwk/information/nwsnwk/publish/News_1/Bob-Dorf-Kathleen-Warner-to-Jump-Start-Startup-Weekend-Stamford_np_19970.shtml#sthash.KsX8LB8H.dpuf